Mother and Son Reunion
by Katya Derevko
Summary: Kinder of Spoilery for Season 6, so consider yourself warned! The basic premise is: There's a reason Jay is the way he is. Oneshot, but I might post a Part Two if people are interested.


Mother and Son Reunion

Summary: Kind of Spoiler-y for Season 6, so if you're not keen on being spoiled don't read. The basic premise: There's a reason Jay is the way he is. Rated M for violence and profanity. One-shot, but I may post a part two if I get some interested reviewers.

"Jason."

When he heard it, he froze. The voice alone was unmistakable, but he didn't have to recognize her voice to know it was her. Aside from teachers, she was the only one who would dare to call him that. And she was the reason that he always flinched at the sound of his actual name.

Things had actually been going pretty well, for once. Sure, he'd lost his supposed friend Spinner to the Christian freaks, and he couldn't get his girlfriend back because she was a flaming Lesbo, but it wasn't all bad. He had Alex actually worked better as buddies than they ever had as a couple. And he wouldn't dare admit it to anyone, but he was really happy when Sean came back into town. Unlike Spinner, he and Sean were cut from the same cloth. So he offered Sean a place to crash until he got his shit together. Things were looking up for the first time in a long time.

He knew it couldn't last.

Sean was looking at him questioningly. He knew his expression must have changed the minute he heard that voice. Damn. He took a deep breath and turned to face her.

The woman was older, but no so very old. In her forties, if that. Her hair was light brown, her eyes blue, her features mirroring his. The expression on her face did not bode well for him.

"We need to talk. Now!" The menace and the warning in her voice nearly made him start, even as he mentally cursed himself for his weakness.

"Fine," he managed through gritted teeth. "Just … not here." He didn't want Sean to see.

The woman nodded grudgingly. "Later, man," Jay muttered, and the two of walked off together, leaving Sean to wonder.

She stood in the alleyway, arms folded across her chest, scowling.

"So," Jay said softly, "When did you get back in town-"

She struck him.

With the taste of his own blood in his mouth, Jay still managed a smirk. "It's been a while since you've drawn blood. So, was that for any particular reason, or just because you missed me so much?"

"Oh, definitely because I missed you." Her smirk matched his own. She paused. "So, I see your best friend Sean's back down. Oh wait, he's your only friend, isn't he? Since the shooting and all …" Trust her to twist the knife in his side. She looked at him knowingly. "You've been letting him stay at our place, haven't you?"

Oh, damn. Why did she have to do this to him? "Yeah."

Her smirk turned into a scowl. "I want him out, Jason."

"Oh come on!" Jay shouted, even as her eyes narrowed dangerously in warning.

"He's out. Today."

"He doesn't have any place else to go-"

She struck him again, harder this time. She knew just how to hit him, and she knew he would never hit back. He backed away until he hit the wall, and as she raised her hand again, he said it, hating himself:

"Okay, okay! He's out, he's out! Just stop!"

She lowered her arm slowly, her expression going from angry to smug, as her lips curled in a sneer.

"Look at you, Jason. You're so fucking pathetic. I should've just had an abortion."

It wasn't the first time she said it, and it wouldn't be the last. It was just what she said, instead of 'I love you.' He'd grown so accustomed to it that it almost didn't hurt him to hear it anymore.

Almost.

"Yeah well, then you would've missed out on all those extra welfare checks." It was his stock response. They'd had this conversation many times before. She smiled coldly at him.

"I'll see you at home, then," she said, and walked away.

Jay stood there for a moment, uncertain of what to do. One thing he was sure of was that his life was going to go to shit again, with her back in it. He hoped desperately that she'd just leave him alone. That she'd just keep shacking up with her latest boyfriend, and leave him to collect the welfare checks, neither of them caring that they were defrauding the government. But no, she'd left him, or he'd dumped her, just like all the others. And now she was back, to make his life a living hell, like she usually did.

But this time was different, he thought, feeling the first small stirrings of hope.

He was eighteen now. That meant, if he left their home, she couldn't call the cops, couldn't report him as a runaway, like the other times. He could just leave, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it. Alex might even let him stay with her; she wasn't out to her mother and needed a beard, besides which, Lexie's mother had always been kind to him. Even if he couldn't work that, he'd rather sleep in his damn car, live on the streets, than be in that place, with her.

The only thing left was to face Sean. His bleeding lip would be difficult to explain, but over the years, he'd become an expert at making up all sorts of creative and believable lies. Anything Sean guessed at, he'd deny. The truth was too damn humiliating, so he needed Sean to believe the lie – or at least pretend he believed it. But he could do this. He could leave her. Just as she said his father had left. He was no longer a source of income, she had no real use for him. She would let him go.

She had to. And he would be grateful. It would be the kindest thing his mother ever did.


End file.
